


Room to Grow

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Self Indulgent Leverage/Stargate fics [7]
Category: Leverage, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, Imprisonment, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 23:30:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11634195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: "Seriously, I never thought the day would come that we'd be bested by goddamn medieval weaponry."O'Neill's wound at the hand of a primitive weapon may have impeded their initial attempt at escape, but with Teal'c at their side, Eliot knows they can find a way out of this.





	Room to Grow

**Author's Note:**

> I'm only up to S5 of SG-1, but these fics wanted to be written, so I apologize for what will undoubtedly be inconsistencies with later canon. Takes place post-series for SG-1, somewhere around S2 for Leverage.

Eliot's internal clock was shot ages ago, but according to O'Neill's watch they're about seventeen hours overdue for the check-in time base had given Teal'c. He knows as well as Jack does that there's no way Daniel will have given up on them yet, but he also knows there's no way the SGC will authorize sending anyone after them. Not when this particular alien race has managed to take down him, O'Neill, _and_ Teal'c. Three of the best to ever serve in the SGC, and not a one of them has been able to get them out of this mess.

And the worst part might just be that it isn't even the Goa'uld.

O'Neill looks exhausted, and Eliot can't help but feel a pang of sympathy for his former CO. He hadn't wanted this assignment, Daniel had made that plenty clear in the mission report he'd handed Eliot going on four days ago now. What the mission report had failed to mention, because no one on base had known, was that the locals they were negotiating with weren't the only sentient species on the planet, nor were they even the most dangerous.

Eliot rubs a hand over his face. "Tell me again what the natives told base after I didn't check in, Teal'c?"

"That the Karatoan are little more than raiders. They come through the chappa-ai once a year to take the Fareshta's resources, giving nothing in return. The Fareshta did not warn us because the Karatoan typically do not come for another several weeks. They do not know why they arrived early this year. What they do know is that the Karatoan come from a land that is nothing like this one, and one that bestows them with supernatural gifts of speed and strength."

Eliot nods. "And Carter thinks…?"

"Based on the symbols the Fareshta showed us that lead to the Karatoan planet, Colonel Carter believes it to be a planet with much greater gravity than this one, which allows the Karatoan to move with such speed and strength."

"Kinda like Superman," O'Neill says, one corner of his mouth quirking up in a vague sort of amusement. "Gotta love it."

Eliot swallows. "Sir?"

O'Neill waves him off. "Leave off with the 'sir,' Spencer. You haven't been in the force for ages."

"Old habits die hard, sir."

O'Neill rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah." He tries to maneuver into a seated position, wincing at the way it jostles the shoulder wound he's sporting from one of the Karatoan's spears. "Seriously, I never thought the day would come that we'd be bested by goddamn medieval weaponry."

"Is it still bleeding, O'Neill?" Teal'c asks, sounding concerned.

"A little. I would've thought it'd close up before now, but evidently there's more to their weapons than meets the eye."

Eliot can only tear his eyes away from the sheer amount of blood that has seeped into Jack's most recent makeshift bandage long enough to take stock of the amount that's on the floor. "You've lost a lot of blood, sir. If we don't do something about the bleeding—"

"I'm fine, Spencer."

"You really, really aren't, sir."

"Well then, what exactly do you propose we do?"

"Look, when it was just you and me and that wound, I didn't think we had a chance in hell of getting out of here. But if I can bust out and get to our weapons when they come to feed us, Teal'c can get you out of here and we can get far enough away to hide until we can orient ourselves to the gate."

"How does that fix the bleeding issue?"

Eliot hesitates for an instant before plunging ahead. "If we can get one of the Karatoan's swords and Teal'c's staff weapon, we can heat the sword up hot enough to cauterize the wound."

Eliot's pretty sure that if O'Neill hadn't already been so pale from blood loss, he'd have gone sheet white at the pronouncement. Still, ever the good soldier, Jack turns to Teal'c for a second opinion.

"I can see EliotSpencer's point," Teal'c says smoothly. "If you do not receive medical attention soon, we may be unable to save you at all."

"And I suppose that's the whole reason the two of you came through the gate in the first place."

Eliot feels his face go hard, the same way it does when Hardison's being deliberately obtuse. "You may not give a rat's ass about the people you left behind _General_ , but I do. Now, I'm not one to turn away from a job, but if getting home to my people means leaving you behind, I might just have to consider it. So either you get over yourself and help us get you out of here in one piece, or you make this whole trip I took a waste of time."

O'Neill stares at him, wide-eyed and clearly thrown for a loop. Then he barks out a harsh laugh and nods. "If you're sure you can take out these suckers when they come to feed us, then I'm all in."

Eliot grins back. "Alright, so here's the plan."

——

It's altogether too easy for O'Neill to play at unconsciousness and for Eliot to yell at the Karatoan when it comes to feed them. Subduing it before it gets the word out to the rest of its team isn't quite as successful, but between Eliot and Teal'c they manage it. Eliot grabs what gear he can from the ground where the Karatoans had stashed it across from the cage they'd been held in, and Teal'c slings Jack over his shoulders so that the three of them can make their way out. They make it most of the way out of the makeshift camp before Eliot has to lay down cover fire on the advancing Karatoans. In the end, he manages to take out the advance guard quickly enough that he can hightail it after Teal'c and the three of them can make their way through the terrain to a relatively safe place.

O'Neill's drifting in and out of consciousness at that point, the sustained pain clearly too much to handle. Teal'c puts something between O'Neill's teeth while Eliot fires two quick blasts at the Karatoan sword he'd stolen, heating the metal.

"You'd better hold him down, Teal'c," Eliot says grimly. "This is not gonna be pretty."

The smell of burnt flesh is just as bad as Eliot remembers, but he makes sure to cauterize both sides of O'Neill's shoulder, blocking out the sounds of his screams, muffled as they are behind whatever Teal'c put in his mouth.

"Okay, okay," Eliot says as he removes the blade from O'Neill's back. "That should do it." O'Neill goes limp almost immediately, panting harshly against Teal'c's shoulder. Eliot glances over his shoulder, trying to make out how far they are from the camp. "We should probably keep moving. If the rest of the Karatoan are any good at tracking, we're gonna be sitting ducks out here in about half an hour."

"Understood EliotSpencer," Teal'c says, even as he slings O'Neill back over his shoulders. "Do you know which way we must travel to return to the gate?"

Eliot glances around, suddenly and painfully reminded of how being offworld fucks up his sense of direction. Then O'Neill stirs on Teal'c's shoulders, and Eliot turns to face him. "O'Neill?"

Eliot can just make out O'Neill pressing insistently on one of Teal'c's shoulders. He and Teal'c realize what it means at the same moment, and Teal'c turns in the direction O'Neill is trying to point him. "This way?"

O'Neill just grunts, but they take it as the affirmation they need it to be. Though the going is slow, they make their way through the rough terrain toward what they hope is the Stargate, with O'Neill periodically altering their course slightly to ensure that they're headed the right direction. On one occasion, Eliot forces them to stop completely so he can check Jack's wound. To his dismay, the cauterization had seemed only a temporary hold against whatever technology was in the Karatoan spear, and he has to cauterize it again, praying that O'Neill's screams, however muted they may be, aren't enough to draw the Karatoan to them.

Five long hours and two near misses with the Karatoan later, Eliot can just make out what he thinks is the Fareshta village he'd encountered just a half mile from the gate. Relief is thick in his bones as he and Teal'c make their way toward their salvation, their burdens in tow.

Eliot doesn't see what O'Neill does to make Teal'c stop short, but he freezes in turn, trusting his former CO more than his own instincts offworld.

"Stargate," O'Neill says, voice harsh and rasping. "Not the village. Stargate."

Teal'c nods, and they skirt their way around the village. It's a damn miracle they make it as close as they do without being noticed. In the end, though, Eliot only just manages to make out the advancing Karatoan and take them out before he's yelling over his shoulder to Teal'c to make a break for the gate. He doesn't trust himself to dial out correctly after so long, so he lays down as much cover fire as he can with the staff weapon while he waits for the familiar light of the event horizon behind him. Then it's a wild dash through the gate that sends him tumbling headfirst onto the ramp on the other side. He just makes out Teal'c yelling for them to close the iris, and then, for a beautiful blissful second, he revels in the fact that he's safe.

Then he shoves himself to his feet, his eyes finding Daniel instinctively. He marches over, getting right up in Daniel's face before he speaks.

"Never. Again. I am never risking my neck for you again, do you hear me?"

"Eliot—"

The single word deflates him. He rubs a tired hand over his face. "Look, Daniel. I have people now, okay? People that trust me. People that need me. I can't leave them behind like this again."

Daniel stares at him for a long moment, before nodding slowly. "Alright, Eliot. I won't contact you again. You have my word."

Eliot can only nod grimly in return, eyeing the way the medical team is already going to work on Jack's shoulder. "Still," he manages roughly, "I'm glad you called this time. I think I needed one more mission. Just to know for sure."

Daniel claps a strong hand on Eliot's shoulder. "You know how to contact me if you ever change your mind."

Eliot just nods back. "I do. I won't, but I do."

It's the closure on a chapter of his life he hadn't known he needed until now, and, if nothing else, he's so, so grateful it was with these guys.

He gives Daniel a lopsided grin. "Well then."

Daniel nods, the understanding thick between them. "Guess I won't be seeing you."

Eliot nods. "Guess not." He reaches out to shake Daniel's hand, and then follows the O'Neill and the medical team to the infirmary.

It's time to go home. His real home.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
